A new contenporary art exhibit entitled "THE WORLD IS YOURS", running from Sept 5 - January 10 will have in its rank the BMW H2R. However, this is not the standard H2R we have seen speeding around in its sveltte hydrogen powered and GINA inspired shape. Instead, artist Olafur Eliasson has put his own take onto the cars shape.

Eliasson's project transforms an object of advanced industrial design into a work of art that critically and poetically reflects on the relationship between global warming and the automotive industry.

Eliasson removed the car's outer shell and replaced it with a complex, translucent skin made of steel mesh, reflective steel panels, and then put ontop of this layers of ice.

Quote:

"Our movement in space implies friction: not only wind resistance, but also social, physical, and political frictions," Eliasson comments. "Thus, movement has consequences for self-perception and the way we engage with the world. One can look at the body as a mobile vessel or a vehicle that changes the parameters of time and space. In driving a car, one obviously also negotiates the way time-space is constructed. What I find so interesting in the research on movement and environmentally sustainable energy is the fact that it enhances our sense of responsibility in how we as individuals navigate in a world defined by plurality and polyphony."

Dr. Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of the BMW AG, commented on the three-year cooperation with the artist:

Quote:

"While working on his Art Car Project, Olafur Eliasson had been engaged in an intensive exchange of ideas with our engineers and designers for a number of years. Within the framework of the BMW Group’s long-term commitment to art and culture, the intense discussion between the artist and our company reached beyond the boundaries of purely cultural engagement. Eliasson’s work poses questions also raised by our company. Our corporate vision of sustainable mobility is based on innovative research, new technologies and the use of regenerative energy, which also secures our company’s prospects for the future. We believe solutions can only be achieved when politics, industry and society all work together. And the BMW Group is proud to promote such a joint effort."

I could see this being abstract art of some kind...but how exactly is this car related? Unless BMW has suddenly gotten into the art industry this "Art Car" makes no sense at all. Hell, even if they DID get into the art industry this thing makes no sense as a car.

The caption for that picture of the 3 guys should be the guy in the middle saying "I wonder how much more money we can scam out of BMW" while he puts that piece of paper (a check in this instance) into his coat pocket.

Olafur Eliasson must have been smoking crack when he thought up that design. I am sorry, but it just looks like a dome over nothing. C'mon where is the originality? At least project some shape of a car?!?!